Institutions as Signals: How Dictators Consolidate Power in Times of Crisis
Formal institutions in dictatorship are known to improve authoritarian governance and promote power-sharing. Yet institutions also act as tools of information propagation and can be used by autocrats for signaling purposes. In this article, I argue that in times of weakness, dictators
follow an expand-and-signal strategy, expanding the ruling coalition to decrease the relative power of coup plotters and then create visible formal institutions to signal strong support. Doing so decreases (1) the probability that a coup is launched and (2) that one succeeds if staged. I propose
a formal model to unpack the mechanisms of my argument and use the case of the Dominican Republic during Rafael Trujillo's rule to illustrate my theory.
Keywords: AUTHORITARIAN INSTITUTIONS; COUPS; DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; POLITICAL SURVIVAL; POWER-SHARING; SIGNALING
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 October 2020
This article was made available online on 05 March 2020 as a Fast Track article with title: "Institutions as Signals: How Dictators Consolidate Power in Times of Crisis".
- Comparative Politics is an international journal that publishes scholarly articles devoted to the comparative analysis of political institutions and behavior. It was founded in 1968 to further the development of comparative political theory and the application of comparative theoretical analysis to the empirical investigation of political issues. Comparative Politics communicates new ideas and research findings to social scientists, scholars, and students, and is valued by experts in research organizations, foundations, and consulates throughout the world.
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